City’s landfill diversion rate far short of target

Report in June to look at compost program, trash collection user fees

The percentage of material diverted from Saskatoon’s landfill increased slightly in 2017, but still remains far below city hall’s goal of 70 per cent.

The city’s waste diversion rate rose to 22.8 per cent last year, up from 21.8 per cent in 2016, according to a City of Saskatoon report. On a list of 18 other Canadian municipalities, only Regina ranked worse than Saskatoon in 2017, with a 21.8 per cent diversion rate.

The average rate among those cities is 43.7 per cent, the report says. Edmonton diverts 52 per cent of material, Winnipeg 34.7 per cent and Calgary 27.2 per cent.

The amount of material recycled in Saskatoon dropped slightly in 2017, but so did the amount of material taken to the landfill.

“We need to bring new programs in to have much more significant impact,” said Brenda Wallace, the city’s director of environmental and corporate initiatives.

“Through education, all we’re doing is tweaking our performance at the margins. We need to expand the services that make it more convenient for residents to be composting and recycling.”

A report is expected in June detailing the possibility of a city-wide compost collection program and a controversial proposal to impose user fees for trash collection.

Wallace said the diversion rate may not accurately reflect the success of city hall’s efforts to increase recycling and send less material to the landfill.

A 27-year-old Saskatoon man faces 13 charges, including kidnapping and forcible confinement, after a witness saw a woman with an infant inside a vehicle, screaming for help.

Saskatoon RCMP received a report Tuesday around 9:20 a.m. from a witness who reported seeing the woman in the back of a vehicle pleading for someone to call police, according to an RCMP news release.

The caller told police the vehicle was travelling south on Clarence Avenue in the R.M. of Corman Park and provided them with a description of the vehicle.

At the same time, Saskatoon police received a call from the woman, who, according to the RCMP release, said she “was in the vehicle with her infant and that their lives were in danger.”

Multiple RCMP detachments, as well as Corman Park police, were called in due to the serious nature of the call, RCMP said.

About 10 officers were involved in setting up a perimeter and searching grid roads in the area for the suspect vehicle.

About 30 minutes after RCMP received the first call, officers located the suspect and conducted a high-risk arrest.

The woman and child were not injured, RCMP said.

A 27-year-old man is charged with two counts each of kidnapping, forcible confinement and uttering threats, plus one count each of possession of a controlled substance and breach of undertaking.

Myles James Sedlecky appeared in Saskatoon provincial court on Wednesday and was remanded into custody.